Interview this week in Acute Adult Psychiatric Unit!

Specialties Psychiatric

Published

Good day Nurses!

I am a new graduate unhappily working in med/surg. The unit is not that bad, I just know it's not where I want to be and where I plan on continuing my career. Fortunately, I was offered the opportunity to come in for an interview in adult psych this week and I am so excited. Mental health has always been a HUGE passion of mine and I am so happy that I get this opportunity. Growing up with a mental illness was very tough but allowed me to be empathetic to people who are suffering from mental illnesses. The only issue that I am having is that I used to be a psychiatric support technician in an acute adult unit and let's just say...it didn't go so well.

I loved it when I started, I loved the patients and I loved the environment. Unfortunately, I wasn't properly trained and there was a predicament where I was thrown a cup of water on my face and was called some very bad things from one of the patients and I did not know how to react. I ended up quitting eventually because I was in shock and wasn't prepared, I regretted it weeks and months after that.

I want to be prepared this time, I want to thrive in the field of mental health because I know it is where I see myself forever to be honest. I want to be more prepared to handle insults and manipulation from patients and what to do when patients are rude and tend to be aggressive. I want to care for this vulnerable population and be the best possible nurse I can be. Any advice to help a new grad become a successful psych nurse will help! I've read numerous posts from the psych nursing board and love reading everything. I am very excited about this opportunity. Thank you guys!

I'd be weary of geri-psych if I were you, but that's just from my own experience. Psych nursing tends to have larger nurse-patient ratios and, while they may be medically cleared, it does not mean that the comorbidities could act up at any time. Geri comes with falls, aspiration risks, skin tears, fractures, code blue's, you name it. I used to work geri but thankfully got into adult. Serious props to those geri psych nurses, it is a VERY difficult psych population.

Best of luck!

Specializes in Adult Psychiatry, Correctional/Forensic Psychiatry.
I'd be weary of geri-psych if I were you, but that's just from my own experience. Psych nursing tends to have larger nurse-patient ratios and, while they may be medically cleared, it does not mean that the comorbidities could act up at any time. Geri comes with falls, aspiration risks, skin tears, fractures, code blue's, you name it. I used to work geri but thankfully got into adult. Serious props to those geri psych nurses, it is a VERY difficult psych population.

Best of luck!

Thanks! I decided to accept the adult psych position. They are usually medically cleared and each nurse has 4 patients, on a rare occasion maybe 5. Does that sound good?

hi! i was wondering how you made the choice to leave your med-surg unit to go to psych. i'm a new grad too on med-surg, but i'm not sure if i want to continue and i also did my practicum in psych. how did you tell your med-surg unit that you're thinking about psych or moving on?

Specializes in Adult Psychiatry, Correctional/Forensic Psychiatry.
hi! i was wondering how you made the choice to leave your med-surg unit to go to psych. i'm a new grad too on med-surg, but i'm not sure if i want to continue and i also did my practicum in psych. how did you tell your med-surg unit that you're thinking about psych or moving on?

Hey! I knew I have wanted to do psych since I was in school. I never got a psych position but I was offered a med surg position, I took it because that is all I was offered. My manager knew my goals, I told her in the beginning that psychiatry is my passion but I was willing to try it out. I was UNHAPPY as ever. Once I saw a new grad psychiatry position opened, I applied right away, got the job. I gave my manager a 2 week notice, she understood. I didn't even bother putting it on my resume because I wasn't there too long.

Specializes in Adult Psychiatry, Correctional/Forensic Psychiatry.
Hi,

I've been in psych since I graduated, and have always had a heart for anyone struggling with psych issues. There is a book another poster referred me to called, "Verbal Judo". I picked it up on Kindle and it's a great read for the types of situations you will find yourself in. The hardest part is to not take what they say personally. Just last week, a challenging patient asked me if they paid me. I said yes, she said it did not appear so since I looked so bad and needed a haircut. ;) other times, I get hurled insults at just because I deny their request for certain meds, or can't do what they ask at the time I'm available. Some days I just come home and de-stress by not saying anything about my day. I work Geripsych which means lots of co-morbidities, such as heart, liver, cancer, etc. We are somewhat like a nursing home as we have to change people, and convince them to bathe, take meds, eat meals, and go to groups.

The turnover is great due to people accepting the job not knowing what to expect, and then finding out its not for them. Then there's the safety issue, especially in acute. I worked on a woman's acute unit first, and had my share of physical situations. Our facility does training for this.

Just know that psych is a true calling. You either love it, or hate it, but you'll know fairly soon which it is.

Hey, I'm so late. I've been working in the field for a few months now. I would like to get the book Verbally Judo, but when I looked it up, I found two. Verbal Judo: The Gentle Art of Persuasiam and Verbal Judo: Redirecting Behavior with Words. Which one is it? Thanks!

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